Cozy Autumn Junk Journal by Gina Testa!

Cozy Autumn Junk Journal

Hey, everyone! Gina Testa of Gina Makes It, one of our amazing NEW Junk Journal Design Team Members, created a fabulous Cozy Autumn Junk Journal for us this week. As you know, we feature one new Junk Journal project each week created by one of our creative team of artists. Our Design Team Members select from the 100’s of Vintage Image Bundles on our Premium Membership Site, for their creations, in order to show you beautiful ways to use those images. We hope you will be totally inspired by this series!

Therefore, please make sure you check out the video tour at the bottom of the page…please scroll all the way down to see it. Are you ready to be inspired? I will step out of the way and let Gina introduce herself, and tell you all about her incredible project…

Over in my part of the world, summer is winding down slowly and the autumnal equinox has come and gone. With October on the horizon, it was definitely time for me to transition to a new, cozier journal. Throughout the years of journal making, I’ve learned that I need a journal aligned with my senses and with my current reality. While I love bright and fresh spring and summer flowers, I knew I couldn’t draw inspiration from a journal that did not mimic the world around me. So, I set out to make an autumn-inspired journal to use for the month of October.

Because I had a specific aesthetic in mind, I sat down to preview all of the Graphics Fairy Premium Membership bundles. If I saw an image or two from one that interested me, I downloaded the entire bundle to my computer. By the time I was done, I managed to download over 15 different bundles! Next, I went through each downloaded bundle to choose which images or paper I wanted to print. I also took a quick look at the free portion of the site and downloaded a few beautiful images resulting from the search term “harvest.” I created a separate folder on my computer to store and print those images for later.

Since I tend to gravitate towards florals, I immediately began using floral images from the Autumn Hues Botanical bundle to create the cover image, as well as a few tags on the inside. I added scraps of vintage books pages and lace, as well as some sari silk to the top of each tag. Some of the images I printed on coffee-dyed paper, while others were on white matte photo paper.

Next, I started creating the signatures. I created two signatures using papers from the bundles, as well as vintage book and magazine pages, wrapping paper, coffee-dyed paper, toile tissue paper, and a small 1930s appliquéd quilt panel in the middle. Using a hidden spine to sew in my signatures, I also added a piece of vintage eyelet to between the signatures and the hidden spine.

I am absolutely in love with all of the book endpaper printables—I think I used multiples from each bundle. As an avid reader and vintage book collector, I always admired these beautifully detailed and quite delicate papers on the inside front and back covers of books. When I came across the Endpaper bundles, I was excited to finally be able to transfer these images into a journal as part of my signatures.

When I use a journal, I don’t like to have too many elements glued into place because it tends to stifle my creativity; however, at the same time, life has gotten a bit busier these days, so I wanted to experiment with making more ephemera to use during my journaling sessions. I used distressed masking tape to temporarily hold these pre-made pieces in place. As with most of my projects I added a bit of sewing to some images and printed and trimmed a bunch of “extras” to pull from during the journaling process.

Another favorite image I stumbled across was the letter “G” from the Rustic Garden Alphabet bundle. I downloaded the .png file and altered it slightly in Photoshop by adding a brown overlay to better match the overall design of my journal. I then simply printed it out on coffee-dyed paper, trimmed it and added to a vintage quilt square towards the middle. With so many unique details and vintage fall vibes, I am really excited to start working in this journal!

 COZY AUTUMN JUNK JOURNAL SHOW & TELL VIDEO TOUR

Let’s take a tour of it together:

Here is a full list of all the bundles I used:

• A Forest Stroll
• Autumn Hue Botanicals
• Autumn Song
• Coffee & Cream Ephemera
• Country Lane
• Delicate Endpapers
• Fall Colors Ephemera
• Rustic Garden
• Scarborough Fair
• Spring Meadows Endpapers
• Wallpaper Samples
• Woodland Wonders
• Yellow Ephemera

 Amanda’s YouTube, Etsy and Instagram

Happy creating!

Gina 

Check out the Graphics Fairy Premium Membership Site HERE!